Qatar Airways Crew Drunk In Helsinki – QR304 Delayed By 12 Hours

Two Qatar Airways crew members (the First Officer and a flight attendant) must have had a night out in Helsinki yesterday, as they both turned up to operate the Helsinki–Doha flight, QR304, this morning “under the influence”.

Finnish police had received a tip that some of the crew had appeared drunk and went to carry out a breathalyzer test. Now, The Finnish police suspect these two men to have violated the Finnish law by trying to work under the influence.

Here’s the flight status:

Here is the press release from the Finnish police, which unfortunately Google Translate is unable to correctly translate:

Passengers on this flight should file for the EC 261/2004 compensation (600 Euros each) and Qatar Airways is also required provide duty of care for all affected passengers (accommodation, food & calls) or rebook them to their final destinations on the earliest possible flights.

Cockpit and cabin crew really should know better and not to drink (or medicate themselves) before operating or working on a flight. There have been an increasing number of these incidents as of late, or perhaps there are more tests being done with other employees no longer afraid of reporting crew members.

It is almost certain that these two crew members will soon be unemployed and unemployable by any airline due to their personal behaviour.

Note: I have updated this piece after reading the press release by correcting that First Officer and male cabin crew member, rather than the Captain and First Officer as originally reported, are the suspects.